Events

Usually when I work from home, I get a lot done. Today...not as much. I've run errands, had two meetings outside the house, and (to Parker's horror) vacuumed. Now I'm off to another meeting, with half the house un-vacuumed and many emails unread. Articles also unread: Don't be a single-malt snob. (I will be, though.) Why is NYC traffic slowing down? Your Roomba is spying on you. Statistical omissions are just as bad as misleading statistics. Now, time for a board meeting.

New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker says President Trump's outrages aren't outraging us anymore: After six months in office, Mr. Trump has crossed so many lines, discarded so many conventions, said and done so many things that other presidents would not have, that he has radically shifted the understanding of what is standard in the White House. He has moved the bar for outrage. He has a taste for provocation and relishes challenging Washington taboos. If the propriety police tut tut...

Via Deeply Trivial, a new study published last week provides new evidence that only a few genetic changes made wary wolves into friendly dogs: Not much is known about the underlying genetics of how dogs became domesticated. In 2010, evolutionary geneticist Bridgett vonHoldt of Princeton University and colleagues published a study comparing dogs’ and wolves’ DNA. The biggest genetic differences gave clues to why dogs and wolves don’t look the same. But major differences were also found in WBSCR17, a gene...

Through a number of circumstances mostly beyond my control, I didn't fly anywhere between last December 26th and this past Saturday, a total of 208 days. I have to go all the way back to 2006, when I didn't fly for 154 days, to get even close to that interval. On average, since 1 January 2001 I've taken a flight every 10.6 days. Even last year, in which I flew the fewest miles since 2003, I flew every 25 days on average. Well, the next five weeks will bring the 2017 average up a bit. But still, I miss...

Heading home from New York just now, and came across an infographic from today's Chicago Tribune about the weather in Chicago on this day in 1934. My heavens. After 21 days of 32°C-plus temperatures, Midway Airport hit 43°C on July 23rd, with the official temperature at University of Chicago hitting 41°C the next day—the hottest temperature officially recorded in Chicago history. (Lakeside temperatures were 9°C cooler than even a short distance inland.) It's not quite that hot today, but it could be...

I'm in New York for a friend's wedding this weekend, so light posting, depending on what blows up in Washington tonight. Josh Marshall is already in total freak-out mode. But President Trump tends not to do any work over the weekend, or in the evenings, or at all. Anyway, regular posting returns Monday.

Aaron Sorkin never imagined a White House this dysfunctional, or a president this contemptuous of the law. Apparently the circus has gotten too much even for Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who resigned in a huff this morning over the appointment of Anthony Scaramucci to be his boss. Chait argues that President Trump thinks the entire Federal government should be "operated for his personal benefit:" Six months into his presidency, foundational republican concepts remain as foreign as ever to Trump. He...

Nate Silver dives into a parallel universe with a thoughtful examination of alternative facts: Clinton did manage one significant political accomplishment: getting Merrick Garland appointed to the Supreme Court. With the court set to consider a slate of landmark cases this year on matters including redistricting and abortion, the importance of that achievement should not be understated. But it came at a price. The deal she struck with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, which gave him input on...

Yesterday, the New York Times published an interview with President Trump that no president in history could have given. It contains so many wild assertions and outright lies that its value to the public may only be in its demonstration of the man's mendacity: Mr. Trump rebutted [former FBI director James] Comey’s claim that in a one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office on Feb. 14, the president asked him to end the investigation into his former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn. Mr. Comey...

A new apartment building called "Common Damen" is geared towards millennials who don't want to make commitments: All furnishings (beds, couches, etc.) are included in the rent, as well as utilities, cable, high-speed WiFi, in-unit laundry, a cleaning service every other week, and an on-site group leader who organizes events like potluck dinners, yoga and book clubs. “Renters are able to walk right in and have many of the things it could take years to establish — a place in a great neighborhood, access...